Dataset Information

Whole transcriptome analysis reveals changes in expression of immune-related genes during and after bleaching in a reef-building coral.

ABSTRACT: Climate change is negatively affecting the stability of natural ecosystems, especially coral reefs. The dissociation of the symbiosis between reef-building corals and their algal symbiont, or coral bleaching, has been linked to increased sea surface temperatures. Coral bleaching has significant impacts on corals, including an increase in disease outbreaks that can permanently change the entire reef ecosystem. Yet, little is known about the impacts of coral bleaching on the coral immune system. In this study, whole transcriptome analysis of the coral holobiont and each of the associate components (i.e. coral host, algal symbiont and other associated microorganisms) was used to determine changes in gene expression in corals affected by a natural bleaching event as well as during the recovery phase. The main findings include evidence that the coral holobiont and the coral host have different responses to bleaching, and the host immune system appears suppressed even a year after a bleaching event. These results support the hypothesis that coral bleaching changes the expression of innate immune genes of corals, and these effects can last even after recovery of symbiont populations. Research on the role of immunity on coral's resistance to stressors can help make informed predictions on the future of corals and coral reefs.

SUBMITTER: Pinzon JH

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4448857 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Apr

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

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Whole transcriptome analysis reveals changes in expression of immune-related genes during and after bleaching in a reef-building coral.

Pinzón Jorge H JH Kamel Bishoy B Burge Colleen A CA Harvell C Drew CD Medina Mónica M Weil Ernesto E Mydlarz Laura D LD

Royal Society open science 20150401 4

Climate change is negatively affecting the stability of natural ecosystems, especially coral reefs. The dissociation of the symbiosis between reef-building corals and their algal symbiont, or coral bleaching, has been linked to increased sea surface temperatures. Coral bleaching has significant impacts on corals, including an increase in disease outbreaks that can permanently change the entire reef ecosystem. Yet, little is known about the impacts of coral bleaching on the coral immune system. I ...[more]

PMID: 26064625

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Project description:BACKGROUND:At the forefront of ecosystems adversely affected by climate change, coral reefs are sensitive to anomalously high temperatures which disassociate (bleaching) photosynthetic symbionts (Symbiodinium) from coral hosts and cause increasingly frequent and severe mass mortality events. Susceptibility to bleaching and mortality is variable among corals, and is determined by unknown proportions of environmental history and the synergy of Symbiodinium- and coral-specific properties. Symbiodinium live within host tissues overlaying the coral skeleton, which increases light availability through multiple light-scattering, forming one of the most efficient biological collectors of solar radiation. Light-transport in the upper ~200 ?m layer of corals skeletons (measured as 'microscopic' reduced-scattering coefficient, ?'(S,m)), has been identified as a determinant of excess light increase during bleaching and is therefore a potential determinant of the differential rate and severity of bleaching response among coral species. RESULTS:Here we experimentally demonstrate (in ten coral species) that, under thermal stress alone or combined thermal and light stress, low-?'(S,m) corals bleach at higher rate and severity than high-?'(S,m) corals and the Symbiodinium associated with low-?'(S,m) corals experience twice the decrease in photochemical efficiency. We further modelled the light absorbed by Symbiodinium due to skeletal-scattering and show that the estimated skeleton-dependent light absorbed by Symbiodinium (per unit of photosynthetic pigment) and the temporal rate of increase in absorbed light during bleaching are several fold higher in low-?'(S,m) corals. CONCLUSIONS:While symbionts associated with low-[Formula: see text] corals receive less total light from the skeleton, they experience a higher rate of light increase once bleaching is initiated and absorbing bodies are lost; further precipitating the bleaching response. Because microscopic skeletal light-scattering is a robust predictor of light-dependent bleaching among the corals assessed here, this work establishes ?'(S,m) as one of the key determinants of differential bleaching response.

Dataset Information

Whole transcriptome analysis reveals changes in expression of immune-related genes during and after bleaching in a reef-building coral.

Publications

Whole transcriptome analysis reveals changes in expression of immune-related genes during and after bleaching in a reef-building coral.

Similar Datasets

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